When Callie Schlorholtz thinks about the first time she started playing tennis, she can’t quite pin down why she decided to give it a shot.

But like most of the sports and activities she participates in, a number which grew quite a bit by the time she reached high school, Schlorholtz ends up finding that the instigating factor is very close to home.

“My dad (Chad Schlorholtz) played tennis in high school and my whole family basically played tennis,” Schlorholtz said. “I was like, ‘It's gotta be something for me (too), so let's give it a shot.’”

Her parents signed her up for tennis tournaments that summer, and Schlorholtz just kept playing from there. Around that same time, she also started playing softball, although that sport went into the same bucket as the other activities she’d pick up along the way.

“Once I hit middle school, I knew I wanted to play tennis professionally, or more competitively,” she said.

Softball and other activities such as band and dance would always end up secondary to the first sport she fell in love with.

By the time she reached high school, Schlorholtz — this week’s CapFed® True Blue® Student of the Week — was good enough to become one of the top two singles players on the Independence girls tennis team, alongside fellow freshman Ava Morris.o

During that 2021 season, Schlorholtz reached the regional finals with just one loss on her resume, only to lose to Morris 6-4, 6-3 in that match. She ended up facing her first losing streak when she lost in her opening match at state 7-6 (1), 3-6, (4) against Concordia’s Riley McMilan.

After a couple strong wins on the backside of the bracket, Schlorholtz faced another losing streak with back-to-back losses to end up in the 11th-place match, going up against McMilan again.
 

This time Schlorholtz proved why she was seeded higher than McMilan to start the tournament, closing out state with a 9-4 victory.

While she was already dedicated to tennis as her top sport, her experience at state took that passion for it to another level.

 “It was one of the best experiences of my life and I didn't know if that was going to happen again,” she said.

But heading into her sophomore campaign, Independence head coach Gina McLenon pitched a plan that Schlorholtz was not completely ready for: partnering her up with then-freshman Brooklyn Mattix to compete in doubles.

Schlorholtz had her sights set on competing in singles from the moment she joined the team and her experience during that freshman campaign only made her adamant about that plan.

“When we got partnered up, I was just nervous because I wanted to go to state again,” she said. “It was one of the best experiences of my life and I didn't know if that was going to happen again.”

But by the end of her first tournament playing doubles with Mattix, Schlorholtz started to see how the move might deliver that exact thing she wanted.

“I think we can do this, I think we can make this work,” she recalls thinking after their first outing together.

The duo has since reached the state semifinals in each of the last two years, creating a clear view of how she would describe the switch to doubles.

“It's been the best decision of my life,” she said.

Schlorholtz and Mattix took third last season, ultimately defeating teammates in seniors Hannah Kippenberger and Elizabeth Kippenberger after both suffered semifinal losses. But with those places and Morris finishing as the state runner-up in singles, Independence took home the 4A team state title, the program's first since 2014.
 

Other decisions that rank a little bit lower for Schlorholtz than switching to doubles are ones that often have a similar origin story as her passion for tennis. While she picked up a tennis racket to follow in her dad’s footsteps, Schlorholtz had originally stayed away from following in her mom’s footsteps with that parent’s sport of choice.

Her mother Dana (Weber) Schlorholtz was a cheerleader during her time at Kansas State. But even with that connection, Schlorholtz took a while to give cheer a shot.

“I just wasn't really interested in it until I started high school,” she said. “My family was pushing it on me, so I thought I'd give it a try.”

Schlorholtz stuck with it for her first two years of high school, but it didn’t quite click for her. However, during her time cheering, Schlorholtz started to gain interest in a different spirit activity.

“I would get to watch the dance team perform and they always were a crowd pleaser,” she said. “I was like, ‘That looks fun to do. I feel like I could enjoy that more than what I'm doing right now.’ So I joined dance.”

Schlorholtz joined the Independence Diamond Dogs, a dance team coming off a state runner-up finish in the KSHSAA Game Day Dance Showcase. Schlorholtz could have felt a little pressure joining a senior-laden team looking to replicate its success from 2022, but she said it ended up not being like that at all.

“They didn't really put any pressure on the newbie,” she said. “They just wanted everyone to have fun.”

Schlorholtz said the seniors that year, particularly Abby Shelton, helped her make the transition from cheer and learn the dance routines.
 

Now as a member of a young squad this season, Schlorholtz has started to take on a leadership role with the team. She said that development has required an adjustment for her.

“It all just feels different because I'm not used to leading and dancing,” she said. “For tennis, it just comes naturally to me. But for dance, it’s something completely different.”

Despite that, Schloholtz said the season goals for both tennis and the dance team remain the same, even if the latter might have a lot more work to do in order to meet those expectations.

“We want to try and go for state champs, or runner ups again, but this team is gonna have to learn a lot,” she said.

In addition to her work on those squads, Schlorholtz is also a member of another team that racks up all-state honors.

Schlorholtz started performing in the school band in sixth grade, but her jump into music started a few years before that. Around that time she originally started playing piano. She knew it was one of the prerequisites for playing percussion in the band.

When she reached sixth grade, she started with playing bass before transitioning to snare drums. During her three years of high school band, Schlorholtz has played the symbols. 

She has performed in each of the band’s three Division I Ratings in the Large Group Music category of KSHSAA’s State Music Festival from 2021 to 2023.
 

While she enjoys the state competitions, Schlorholtz said her favorite band performances are the ones performed during the Neewollah Festival, an annual festival held in Independence during the last week of October.

"Most of the community can see what you do, what you spend your time on, and how hard you've been working," she said.
 
Schlorholtz starts with performing in the band before putting her instrument to the side and running over to get in formation for the dance team’s routine. Although she gets to save time by wearing her dance attire during the band performance, she said the back-to-back events can still be overwhelming at times.

“Sometimes it's fun, but when dances are hard, I get really stressed out,” she said.

If that wasn’t enough, Saturday mornings are often the perfect time for high school tennis tournaments. But Schlorholtz said that part of her jam-packed schedule is less of an issue for her.

“It's actually not that bad just because I've gotten used to it by now,” she said. 

Schlorholtz added that her entire fall schedule is something that she’s committed to and she accepts that means she’ll be just busy.

“I just found something that worked for me my freshman year and have just been continuing it,” she said. “I go to tennis practice and then straight to dance, and then on some days I go from tennis practice straight to band.”
 

Her schedule is not always as full in the spring, but it’s still busy as well. Schlorholtz also plays on the softball team as an outfielder. It’s the only sport that she signed up for without the family connection, although her familiy still helped push her in that direction.

“I think it was just like one of those sports that every mom signs their kid up for,” she said.

But it still became something she’s played for almost a decade as she ultimately fell in love with that sport, too.

“I definitely love our practices and the game day vibes that our team brings,” she said. “We know we can have fun, but we also have to be serious at the same time.”

Her team went 15-9 last year as they reached the second round of regionals last May. By the time she wraps up her final season on the diamond, Schlorholtz will be turning her attention to her plans for after high school.

Right now, Schlorholtz plans to attend Independence Community College for a year, before transferring to Kansas State.

“I want to go to ICC for at least a year just because it's close and I want to stay close to my family for at least one more year,” she said.

But Schlorholtz plans could still change as she’s received interest from a few colleges to continue her tennis career. She’s heard from nearby institutions like Bethany College and Kansas Wesleyan.

“I have given it a lot of thought and I'm just going back and forth between should I play or not,” she said.

Schlorholtz said she really wants to focus on academics and working toward whatever degree she decides to pursue, as well as finding a college job. But her passion for the sport and the connections she’s made on the court have rendered her unable to fully close that door just yet.

“I just don't want to give it up and my passion for it is still there,” she said. “I don’t want to lose all the friendships.

“If Ava (Morris) went to one of those colleges (to play tennis), that’d be a pretty cool thing to go play tennis with her again.”

Until then, Schlorholtz will have one more season playing on the team with Morris and partnering with Mattix, with the goal of bringing home a second straight team title and possibly individual titles for all three of those Bulldogs.

“We just need to work hard and put our mind to it, and I think we can do it,” she said.